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Contents:<br />

The Executive Board: 3<br />

• Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano 3<br />

• Meyer Lansky 5<br />

• Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel 6<br />

• Joe Adonis 7<br />

The Luciano Family: 9<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Vito Genovese 9<br />

• Underboss – Frank Costello 10<br />

• Consigliere – Johnny Torrio 11<br />

The Mangano Family: 12<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Vincent Mangano 12<br />

• Underboss – Albert Anastasia 13<br />

• Consigliere – Philip Mangano 14<br />

The Bonanno Family: 15<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Joseph Bonanno 15<br />

• Underboss – Giovanni Bonventre 16<br />

• Consigliere – John Tartamella 17<br />

The Profaci Family: 18<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Joseph Profaci 18<br />

• Underboss – Joseph Magliocco 19<br />

• Consigliere – Salvatore Profaci 20<br />

The Gagliano Family: 21<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Gaetano Gagliano 21<br />

• Underboss – Gaetano Lucchese 22<br />

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• Consigliere – Stefano Rondelli 23<br />

The Chigaco Crime Family: 24<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Al Capone 24<br />

• Underboss – Frank Nitti 26<br />

The Buffalo Crime Family: 27<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Stefano Magaddino 27<br />

• Underboss – Giovanni Montana 28<br />

The Cleveland Crime Family: 30<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Frank Milano 30<br />

• Underboss – Anthony Milano 31<br />

• Consigliere – Alfred Polizzi 32<br />

The Detroit Crime Family: 33<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Guglielmo Tocco 33<br />

• Underboss - Joseph Zerilli 34<br />

The Florida Crime Family: 35<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – Ignacio Antinori 35<br />

• Underboss – Santo Trafficante Sr. 37<br />

The Philadelphia Crime Family: 38<br />

• <strong>Boss</strong> – John Avena 38<br />

• Underboss – Joe Dovi 39<br />

2


The Executive Board:<br />

Charles “Lucky” Luciano:<br />

Charles “Lucky” Luciano, born Salvatore Luciana near Sicily was brought to America in 1906 by his parents. He<br />

saw his father work as a labourer, and as a child had decided that he wanted to become a millionaire, just like<br />

the men wearing suits on the New York city streets. In 1907,at a tender age of 10,he logged his first arrest for<br />

shoplifting.During the same year, he started his first racket.For a penny or two a day, Luciano offered younger<br />

and smaller Jewish kids his personal protection against beatings on the way to school; if they didn’t pay, he<br />

beat them up. One runty kid refused to pay, a thin little youngster from Poland, Meyer Lansky. Luciano<br />

attacked him and was amazed when Lansky gave as much as he got. Luciano was immediately surprised by<br />

Lansky's courage and retaliation. Therefore Luciano decided the young boy could come in handy for future<br />

times, especially during their illegal gambling games on the street. After Luciano quit school he went to work<br />

as a delivery boy for hats to make a few extra bucks. By 1920 Luciano ran a crew with men such as Bugsy<br />

Siegel, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, who'm he reputedly met during a gang fight at the Opera hall. He<br />

had always been ambitious and in order to expand his business he forged an alliance with Jewish Kingping<br />

Arnold Rothstein and later with Giuseppe Masseria, the notorious Sicilian mob boss who controlled a massive<br />

part of New Yorks criminal activities. Luciano, who wasn't related to any notable Mafia member and wasn't<br />

born inside a Mafia stronghold like Castellammare Del Golfo was however starting to make a name for himself<br />

thanks to his hard work and powerful friends.<br />

Although he maintained separate ties with Lansky, Luciano by the late 1920s had become the chief aide in the<br />

largest Mafia family in the city, that belonging to Giuseppe “Joe the <strong>Boss</strong>” Masseria. Luciano had nothing but<br />

contempt for Joe the <strong>Boss</strong>’s Old World ways, with its mumbo-jumbo of the Sicilian Mafia that stressed<br />

“respect” and “honor” for the boss and distrust and hatred of all non-Sicilians. In Luciano’s opinion, Masseria’s<br />

prejudice against other gangsters, Sicilian as well as non-Sicilian, created an unconscionable obstacle to<br />

making real profits. Joe the <strong>Boss</strong> passed up extremely lucrative deals by fighting gangsters with whom he<br />

could have cooperated for their joint benefit. And Joe the <strong>Boss</strong> was more intent on waging otherwise longforgotten<br />

feuds with fellow Sicilians based on which town or village they had come from than he was on<br />

making money. From 1927 to 1931 the Castellammare war raged on between Giuseppe "The <strong>Boss</strong>" Masseria<br />

and Brooklyn Mafia leader Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano was a highly respected member of the Mafia in<br />

Castellammare Del Golfo and came to America in 1925. He was immediately backed by other Castellammarese<br />

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gangs in the country such as Buffalo and Detroit. Soon violence lay around the corner and trucks were being<br />

hijacked, illegal breweries destroyed and men were murdered as if it was a daily business. In 1929, knifewielding<br />

kidnappers severed the muscles in his right cheek, leaving him with an evil droop in his right eye.<br />

Through the years, Luciano told many stories of the incident. He once claimed he was kidnapped by drug<br />

smugglers who, eager to hijack it, wanted intelligence about a big shipment that was coming in. Or he was<br />

nabbed by rival gangsters, including Maranzano himself, and rogue cops who tortured him to get information.<br />

Or he was kidnapped by a policeman and his sons because he had taken advantage of the cop’s daughter.<br />

Whatever the tale, he had survived a “ride”— something few gangsters had; there was a great popularization<br />

of his nickname of “Lucky.” The war moved into 1931 with Maranzano winning, but Masseria was still<br />

powerful. Luciano finally felt he could wait no longer without imperiling his supporters in both camps. Three of<br />

his men and Bugsy Siegel, lent by the cooperative Lansky, shot Joe the <strong>Boss</strong> to death in a Coney Island<br />

restaurant. Luciano had guided him there and stepped into the men’s room just before the execution squad<br />

marched in.<br />

The assassination made Maranzano the victor in the Castellammarese War and, in supposed gratitude to<br />

Luciano, Maranzano made Luciano the number two man in his new Mafia Empire. Maranzano was determined<br />

to become the"<strong>Boss</strong> of all <strong>Boss</strong>es" of the Mafia. To achieve that end, Maranzano compiled a list of two<br />

gangsters who had to be eliminated: In Chicago, Al Capone; in New York, Lucky Luciano. Maranzano<br />

understood Luciano had his own ambitions and figured to crush him quickly.<br />

But Maranzano was not quick enough. Luciano and Lansky learned of Maranzano’s plans in advance.<br />

Maranzano was going to summon Luciano and Vito Genovese to his office for a conference. He had lined up a<br />

murderous Irish gunman, Mad Dog Coll, to assassinate the pair either in his office or shortly after they left.<br />

Instead, moments before Coll arrived to set up the ambush, four of Lansky’s gunners, pretending to be<br />

government agents, entered Maranzano’s office and shot and stabbed him to death. In a very real sense,<br />

Maranzano’s death finished the “old Mafia” in the United States.<br />

Soon after arrangements were made and there would be no revenge actions.Luciano was now at the top, a<br />

dandy dresser and well-known sport on Broadway. Luciano was now on top of the commission and boss of his<br />

Manhattan based family. His long time friend Meyer Lansky served as his adviser next to Frank Costello and<br />

underboss Vito Genovese.<br />

The boss of bosses position was eliminated in the syndicate, although in fact Luciano became the boss in<br />

everything but name in the Mafia division. Luciano’s original idea was to drop the whole Mafia setup, but<br />

Lansky prevailed upon him to keep it, as much to keep the peace as to recognize the substantial Italian<br />

subculture in crime. Luciano agreed and in time discovered that maintaining an American brand Mafia gave<br />

him a power base that protected him from any wars among other ethnic elements.<br />

Similarly, Lansky could not be seriously threatened by Jewish or other mobsters because they knew he had<br />

Mafia troops he could call on. The syndicate moved to control bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, loansharking<br />

and labor rackets. Independent gangsters could have the rest, which in profit meant practically<br />

nothing.<br />

4


Meyer Lansky:<br />

At only 10 years of age, Charles Luciano began his first racket, when he offered young Jewish children his<br />

“personal protection” from beatings on the way to school. One little boy refused to pay Luciano, and when the<br />

two got into a fistfight, he was surprised at what the little fellow had to offer. This little boy would go on to<br />

become his best friend and change the face of American organised crime. Born 'Majer Suchowlinski', he was<br />

better known in Mafia circles as “Chairman of The Board”. Meyer Lansky's friendship with the other notable<br />

Jewish mobster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel brought great dividends to The Commission when it was formed in<br />

1931. But, Lansky's involvement in illicit activities can be traced back to the time Prohibition was ushered into<br />

the United States. He found work with bootlegging kingpin Arnold Rothstein, and also ran a car and truck<br />

business along with Bugsy Siegel. Their partnership also fostered the dangerous 'Bug and Meyer Mob', which<br />

was said to be one of the most violent of the Prohibition-era gangs. His penchant for violence went nascent,<br />

but the Mob evolved into 'Murder Inc.' under the leadership of Albert Anastasia and Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter.<br />

Every major assignment Murder Inc. ever took up had to be approved by Lansky before it could be carried<br />

out.<br />

It was well known among the Mafiosi that Lansky was as powerful as Luciano, because of his intelligence, and<br />

impeccable foresight. According to Luciano, Lansky “could see around corners”, meaning he could anticipate<br />

what would happen next in any event. And it is notable that Lanksy was never convicted, of which Luciano had<br />

to say “the barrel of his gun was curved”. And indeed, his ability to keep himself out of harm’s way while<br />

practically controlling the functioning of the entire US mafia is intriguing. Up until the late 1950s, he was<br />

considered so unimportant that he wasn't even called as a witness to testify before the Kefauver Committee,<br />

and did not command a mention in their first two reports. Lansky was never jealous or grudging of Luciano's<br />

superior status for one primary reason – to avoid ever being in the direct line of fire. He always believed<br />

Luciano was a constant target of the law and opponent mobsters, despite the hefty payouts being doled out<br />

constantly. He set up enviable business deals, especially in places which his partners had not thought of<br />

previously exploiting. A prime example of this skill is his investment in the gambling business in Cuba.<br />

As always, Lansky's prophetic foresight came into play, and he whipped up a camaraderie with Cuban military<br />

leader Fulgencio Batista in the 1930s, and as fate would have it the reigning Cuban leader Gerardo Machado<br />

was overthrown after an uprising, and from 1933 onwards, Batista had all reigning the Prime Ministers in his<br />

pocket, till he became one himself in 1940. The Accountant exercised such power over Batista that when<br />

Santo Trafficante Sr. of Tampa tried expanding to Cuba, he was coolly asked by Batista to “take permission<br />

5


from 'Little Man’ (because of his diminutive 5’4 stature), before he got a license on the land. Lansky was not<br />

immune to insecurities, but in contrast to most, he dealt with them swiftly and effectively. When Al Capone<br />

was arrested and convicted on tax evasion charges in 1931, Lansky feared something similar could take place<br />

with him, and he transferred the illegal funds from his growing empire into a Swiss Bank account. He later<br />

purchased a Swiss bank which he used for money laundering through fake companies and organisations.<br />

It is a perfect combination of foresight, intelligence and faithfulness towards the Sicilian brotherhood that led<br />

to Meyer Lansky being considered as one of the most influential kingpins of organised crime in the United<br />

States of America. His superior skill has been clearly witnessed time and time again, in the midst of all the<br />

backstabbing and treachery of the American Mafia. Of the United States Mafia, Meyer Lansky famously had<br />

this to say: “We're bigger than U.S. Steel”, a phrase which was later paraphrased in the Godfather II movie.<br />

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel:<br />

Born Benjamin Siegelbaum in 1906, Bugsy Siegel grew up in a poor Jewish family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As<br />

a boy Siegel joined a gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East side of Manhattan and committed mainly<br />

petty thefts, until, with a youth called Moe Sedway, he devised his own protection racket where pushcart<br />

merchants were forced to pay him five dollars or he would incinerate their merchandise.<br />

He soon befriended Meyer Lansky, who was from his own neighbourhood. He formed a small gang with<br />

Lansky whose activities included gambling and car theft. Siegel also worked as the mob’s hitman, whom<br />

Lansky would sometimes hire out to other crime families. Bugsy Siegel became known for his hot temper and<br />

violent nature, and was also referred to as the “psychopath”. By the time he was 21 he was guilty of hijacking,<br />

mayhem, bootlegging, narcotics trafficking, white slavery, rape, burglary, bookmaking, robbery, numbers<br />

rackets, extortion and numerous murders.<br />

Siegel was also a charmer and a romantic. He kept his family in the dark about his many extramarital affairs.<br />

Four of his mistresses were actresses Ketti Gallian, Wendy Barrie, Marie MacDonald, and Hollywood socialite<br />

Dorothy DiFrasso. With the aid of DiFrasso and actor friend George Raft, Siegel gained entry into Hollywood's<br />

6


inner circle and is alleged to have used his contacts to extort movie studios. He thereafter always lived in an<br />

extravagant fashion and had earned quite a reputation. On his tax returns Siegel claimed to earn his living<br />

through legal gambling at the Santa Anita racetrack near Los Angeles. Siegel became enamored with a sharptongued<br />

moll and courier, Virginia Hill. They began a torrid affair. Hill helped Siegel establish contacts in<br />

Mexico. Alabama-born Hill was wealthy in her own right and had bought a mansion in Beverly Hills from<br />

Metropolitan Opera baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Siegel frequently stayed there.<br />

During the 1920s, Siegel and Lansky built ties with Charles Luciano and Frank Costello, future bosses of the<br />

Genovese family. In 1926, Siegel started bootlegging operations and was associated with Albert Anastasia.<br />

During the Castellammarese War, Lansky and Siegel switched sides and joined Salvatore Maranzano, along<br />

with Luciano. Bugsy Siegel was one of the four gunmen who shot New York mob boss Joe Masseria on<br />

Luciano’s orders on April 15, 1931, thereby formally ending the Castellammarese War. But on September 10,<br />

1931, Luciano hired four trigger men from the Lansky-Siegel gang to murder Masseria’s rival, Salvatore<br />

Maranzano, cementing Luciano's rise to the top of the U.S. Mafia and marking the birth of modern American<br />

organized crime.<br />

POST 1931<br />

In 1932, Siegel was arrested for gambling and bootlegging but got off with a fine. Lansky and Siegel assisted<br />

Luciano’s brief alliance with Dutch Schultz and killed rival loan sharks Louis Amberg and Joseph Amberg in<br />

1935.<br />

In 1937, the East Coast mob sent Siegel to California to develop syndicate gambling rackets with Los Angeles<br />

crime family boss, Jack Dragna. Once in Los Angeles, he befriended Hollywood filmstars and musceled in on<br />

the territory of Jack Dragna. During the 1940s he built a casino in the middle of the desert which ultimately<br />

made him one of the inventors of Las Vegas.<br />

Joe Adonis:<br />

Adonis was born in Montemarano, an Italian village within the province of Avellino, not far from the City of<br />

Naples. His family brought him to the United States when he was a child.<br />

Through bootlegging, gambling, extortion, bribery, prostitution, and murder, along with widespread<br />

investments in legitimate businesses, Adonis became many times a millionaire.<br />

In his criminal pursuits, Adonis met another young thug with high ambitions, Charles "Lucky" Luciano whom<br />

Adonis befriended and would later serve with unswerving loyalty. Both youths involved themselves in petty<br />

7


ackets, especially prostitution, pimping for a few whores while establishing cheap gambling dens. He was<br />

forever combing his pomaded hair and primping before mirrors. On one occasion, Luciano caught Adonis<br />

combing his dark thick hair before a mirror and said: "Who do you think you are, Rudolph Valentino?" Adonis<br />

turned around with a snarl he had begun to perfect, along with a whisper which slipped from the side of his<br />

mouth, and replied, "For looks, that guy's a bum!"<br />

Mafia informant Joseph Valachi stated that Adonis - who directed criminal activity at the Brooklyn docks<br />

alongside Albert Anastasia and ran a Brooklyn eatery, Joe's Italian Kitchen on Carroll Street and Fourth Avenue<br />

- was among those targeted for elimination by Maranzano after the conclusion of the Castellammarese War in<br />

1931. After Maranzano was assassinated later that year, the Mafia reorganized. Adonis became a major player<br />

in the reorganized underworld, though his precise role in the hierarchy is hazy.<br />

In Brooklyn, Adonis moved on two fronts. He was a trusted member of the board of the syndicate, settling<br />

disputes between various criminal factions and issuing murder contracts. While Albert Anastasia, Lord High<br />

Executioner of Murder, Inc., carried out tasks assigned by Louis Lepke, Adonis was also Anastasia's superior<br />

and kept a tight rein on him. Otherwise the mad-hatter murder boss could well have run amok, ordering too<br />

many hits.<br />

Eventually, Adonis seemed to be everywhere and into everything - alcohol, gambling, drugs, union rackets,<br />

political shenanigans... He had established relationships with several Mafia Families and with some non-Italian<br />

gangs as well. Adonis was known to be a trusted ally and confidant of Frank Costello, who presided over<br />

Luciano's Manhattan Family and served as supreme arbiter of Mafia affairs after Luciano went to prison in the<br />

1930s. Adonis joined Costello and Jewish mobsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel in ownership of the<br />

Colonial Inn casino in Miami Beach. Adonis also shared a gambling empire in New Jersey with Mafioso Willie<br />

Moretti.<br />

While Adonis was active in purely criminal matters, he was also becoming a very influential figure in Brooklyn's<br />

political life. A restaurant he owned in downtown Brooklyn, Joe's Italian Kitchen, became a rendezvous point<br />

for the most eminent political figures in Brooklyn—as well as members of the underworld. Among those he<br />

courted was a county judge, William O'Dwyer, later district attorney and mayor of New York. Adonis was often<br />

seen conferring with O'Dwyer and James J. Moran, a venal assistant, later regarded as O'Dwyer's bagman.<br />

After the end of Prohibition, Adonis extended his interests over waterfront rackets both in Brooklyn and New<br />

Jersey and became a power in syndicate gambling enterprises as well. Despite the fact he had moved up to<br />

multimillionaire class, Adonis also masterminded a string of jewelry thefts. For a man in his position, it was<br />

foolhardy and an activity his bigwig associates viewed with considerable amusement. But Adonis was a thief at<br />

heart and happiest when handling an old-fashioned heist.<br />

8


The Luciano Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Vito Genovese:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> - Vito Genovese (Since Charles Luciano headed the Commission, Vito took the position Acting-<strong>Boss</strong>)<br />

Genovese was a ruthless, murderous gangster who came to the US in 1916. He started his career as a member<br />

of Joe Masseria’s organisation in Manhattan and worked as a bootlegger , gun-man and extortionist. He was<br />

also associated with the Camorra (a criminal society that originated from Naples). Hefriendship with Charles<br />

Luciano and Frank Costello took place in the earlier part of his career. Genovese’s first major act of violence in<br />

the American Mafia took place in 1930 when he ordered the murder of Gaetano Reina on Masseria’s<br />

command.<br />

During the Castellammarese war, Luciano planned to kill Joe Masseria. Genovese was a Luciano loyalist and<br />

decided to step up to the mark. He was one of the four gunmen involved in the murder of Joe “The <strong>Boss</strong>”<br />

Masseria. This led to Maranzano’s victory in the war. However Maranzano’s joy was short lived. 6 months<br />

after the Castellammarese War met its official end, he was killed by Luciano. Genovese became the Underboss<br />

of the Luciano crime family due to his leadership abilities, brutal force in action and muscle power. His other<br />

skills included his cunning nature and ability to make allies with ease.<br />

During the 1930s Vito Genovese took over the Italian Lottery in New York, which brought him great profits. He<br />

then invested these profits in Greenwich nightclubs. Genovese got involved in the much condemned drug<br />

trade and other illicit activities like gambling, prostitution and bootlegging. Quite the same as Albert Anastasia,<br />

Genovese resorted to violence and muscle as the main solution to problems but unlike Anastasia, Genovese’s<br />

hits were more organised, thought out and less radical.<br />

In 1936, when Luciano was convicted of running one of the biggest prostitution rings in U.S. history Vito’s<br />

control over his crime family continued through prison. In the meantime, Vito took the position of Acting <strong>Boss</strong>.<br />

Genovese fled to Naples in 1937 to avoid murder charges and later returned to the US, with a new intention of<br />

taking over the Luciano crime family and becoming ‘boss of all bosses’. He arranged to have Costello killed but<br />

9


Costello survived the attempt on his life.<br />

Underboss – Frank Costello:<br />

Born Francesco Castiglia on January 26, 1891, in Cosenza, Calabria, in southern Italy, Frank Costello grew up in<br />

East Harlem in New York City and was a member of the notorious 107 th Street Gang, a group of young Italian<br />

criminals, also known as the Morello Gang. Costello was first arrested at 17 for assault and robbery and again<br />

when he was 21. Two years later, in 1915, he was sentenced to a year in the penitentiary for carrying a<br />

revolver. After his release, he decided he would use his brain instead of weapons. Costello didn’t return to<br />

prison for the next 37 years. At the time when Costello was working for the Morellos, he met and teamed up<br />

with Charles Luciano, the Sicilian leader of Manhattan’s Lower East Side Gang. The two of them along with<br />

other Italians such as Vito Genovese, and Jewish mobsters like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, formed their<br />

own gang and got into robbery, extortion, gambling and narcotics. As Prohibition came into effect, the gang<br />

began their own bootlegging operation and became associates of Jewish crime kingpin Arnold Rothstein.<br />

In 1922, Costello along with Luciano became members of Giuseppe Masseria, who had taken over the Morello<br />

Gang. By 1924, Costello had expanded his connections and became a close business associate of Hells<br />

Kitchen’s Irish crime boss William Dwyer and English gangster Owney Madden. He now got deeply involved in<br />

their rumrunning operations, known as “The Combine”.<br />

When Combine leader William Dwyer was sentenced to 2 years in jail in 1926, Farnk Costello stepped up to<br />

take over the Combine’s operations along with Owney Madden. This caused friction between Madden and a<br />

top Dwyer lieutenant, Charles Higgins. Higgins believed he was the one who should be running the Combine,<br />

and not Costello. This led to the Manhattan Beer Wars with Higgins on one side and Costello and Madden on<br />

the other. Eventually the Higgins-Costello alliance was destroyed, but they continued to be very influential<br />

gangsters throughout the 1920s.<br />

Costello became known as the “Prime Minister of the Underworld” for his cultivation of associations and<br />

buisiness relationships with New York’s politicians, businessmen, judges and police officials. He was<br />

considered by his fellow gangsters as an important link between the Mafia and the politicians of Tammany<br />

hall, New York’s Democratic Party organization, giving Costello and his close associates, including Luciano the<br />

opportunity to pay off and buy the loyalty and favours of politicians, judges, district attorneys, and police<br />

10


officers in order to run their criminal operations without law enforcement interference. In 1927, Frank<br />

Costello, Charles Luciano and former Chicago boss John Torrio organized a group of the East Coast’s leading<br />

rumrunners into a bootlegging operation. The group came to be known as the “Big Seven Group”.<br />

Castellammarese War – War broke out between Guiseppe Masseria’s faction and the Castellammarese<br />

community from Brooklyn headed by Salvatore Maranzano. Luciano and Costello, who were initially part of<br />

Masseria’s faction, switched sides to Maranzano in 1930 and eventually won the war. It was also because Joe<br />

Masseria was becoming an underworld dictator with demands of absolute obedience from the 4 mafia<br />

families which operated in New York City. Salvatore Maranzano was victorious, but was killed himself within 6<br />

months by Luciano’s gunmen. Luciano set up what came to be known as The Commission, and made his two<br />

close associates, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello leading figures of his organization, called the Luciano<br />

family. Costello was made the Consigliere of the family because of his strong ties with law enforcement<br />

officials and his loyalty to Luciano from the very beginning.<br />

During the 1930s, Costello came to control the slot machines and bookmaking operations of the Luciano<br />

family. He placed approximately 25,000 slot machines in the bars, restaurants, cafes, drug stores, gas stations<br />

and bus stops throughout New York City. However, in 1934 mayor Fiorello LaGuardia confiscated thousands of<br />

Costello’s slot machines. Frank’s next move was to accept Louisiana governor, Huey Long’s proposal to allow<br />

Costello’s slot machines into the state of Louisiana for 10% of the take. By 1939 Costello was tried for tax<br />

evasion pertaining to a hidden income of $798,000. The government lost the case due to lack of evidence.<br />

Consigliere – Johnny Torrio:<br />

In 1931, Johnny Torrio was an important advisor of Lucky Luciano. The creation of a National Crime Syndicate<br />

was suggested to Luciano by Torrio. He is nicknamed ‘The Brain’ as it is believed that, he along with Arnold<br />

Rothstein and Meyer Lansky laid down the rules of organized crime in United States of America. He came to<br />

New York at the age of two, from Italy. As a teenager, he was a lieutenant in Paul Kelly’s ‘Five Points’ gang and<br />

was also the head of his own sub-gang, the ‘James Streeters’. He gained a reputation as a tough guy Young<br />

Turk. He earned the street name ’Terrible Johnny’, as he was always involved in gang fights and used<br />

everything at his disposal to win a fight. As an enemy, he was regarded as cruel and calculating.<br />

In 1912, Torrio had an interest in a ‘bar and brothel’ near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Here, he would give muscle<br />

work to Al Capone. There wasn’t enough money for Torrio in the prostitution business and he felt that real<br />

11


profit was in hijacking and narcotics. From 1909 onwards he began working for his uncle, Jim Colosimo in West<br />

Chicago. When Johnny was thirty three, he was offered a partnership by him. Torrio left the Brooklyn rackets<br />

and operations to his partner Frankie Yale and took over the operations of his uncle’s prostitution rackets in<br />

Chicago like ‘The House Of All Nations’ and the low market joints on Bedbug Row.<br />

In 1919 Al Capone was brought out by Torrio, mainly because he wanted him to be there when he made his<br />

move into the bootlegging business. At this time Jim Colosimo had become very lazy and didn’t take part in his<br />

operations. This was disliked by Torrio. He then made Frankie Yale kill Colosimo. Then Torrio took over all the<br />

operations of his uncle and set about uniting the numerous gangs in Chicago. Torrio’s plan was to have each<br />

gang control a certain area with no interference from other gangs. Most of the gangs agreed to Torrio’s plan.<br />

However, there were some who agreed initially and then did as they pleased. One of these gangs was the<br />

North Siders led by Dion O’ Bannion. Torrio called upon Frankie Yale to kill Dion. Frankie Yale, along with<br />

Albert Anselmi and John Scalise killed Dion O’ Bannion. However, O’ Bannion’s successors, Hymie Weiss and<br />

Bugs Moran wanted revenge. They tried to kill Torrio many times and on January 24th 1925, an attempt on<br />

Torrio’s life left him badly injured badly. He then went back to Italy after fighting death for a week and a half.<br />

Torrio passed his organization over to Al Capone.<br />

He returned to U.S.A from Italy to testify in Capone’s trial for tax evasion. At this time he became an important<br />

advisor to Luciano. Torrio was the man who kept the high-up political connections. He had political<br />

connections with William Hale Thompson, who was the mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from<br />

1927 to 1931. He died in Brooklyn at the age of 75.<br />

The Mangano Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Vincent Mangano:<br />

Vinent Mangano was the boss of the Mangano family in 1931 and went on to rule till 1951. Mangano was born<br />

in Sicily in 1888. He was an old school boss who believed in old ideals. Although he was a Mustache Pete, he<br />

was more forward looking than Salvatore Maranzano and Giuessepe Masseria and was therefore allowed to<br />

stay in power by Luciano. He even went to the extent of helping Luciano kill some of the old bosses.<br />

Vincent Mangano, his brother Phillip Mangano, and their father and Joseph Profaci immigrated to America in<br />

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1921. Mangano settled in Brooklyn and became associated with Brooklyn bosses, Frankie Yale and Salvatore<br />

D’ Aquila during the 1920s and frequently worked for both the bosses. His main focus became the Brooklyn<br />

waterfront, of which he became the absolute leader. In 1928, both Yale and D’ Aquila were murdered. D’<br />

Aquila was replaced by Al Mineo. On December 5th, 1928, Mangano was present at what is believed to be the<br />

first National Crime meeting at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland.<br />

During the late 1920s, Mangano earned fortunes from the waterfront. He and his associates would threaten to<br />

prevent cargo from being loaded or unloaded if the shipping company refused to pay a tribute. Mangano’s<br />

men would force workers to pay a fee for everyday they worked on the docks-because of this, the mob knew<br />

exactly what was on each ship and could chose what to steal. During 1930-31, Mangano’s superior Al Mineo<br />

was murdered because of his ties with Masseria and he was succeeded by Frank Scalise, who was appointed<br />

by Maranzano. When Maranzano was killed, Scalise was dethroned and the heads of the New York families<br />

favored Mangano to succeed him.<br />

Mangano then created new business rackets for his family and sent capos to New Jersey and Florida. Mangano<br />

also had close ties with the vice-president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Emil Camarda,<br />

and together established the City Democratic Club. The club promoted bedrock American values in the front<br />

room and carried out illegal activities in the backroom. It became a regular meeting place for the members of<br />

Murder Inc. Other operations Mangano was involved in included running numbers, bootlegging, truck<br />

hijacking, drug smuggling and loan-sharking.<br />

Mangano had many enemies. Albert Anastasia, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, and Thomas Lucchese had all<br />

expressed a desire to rub out the old school boss. Mangano was a man who lived by the old rules and wasn’t<br />

too fond of any modern changes in his family, much to the dislike of his Underboss, Albert Anastasia.<br />

Mangano’s selection of Anastasia as his underboss was not only because of Anastasia’s power, but also<br />

because of Anastasia’s friendship with Luciano. Mangano and Anastasia often differed in opinions which<br />

eventually led to their fall-out. Vincent Mangano’s death is considered to be one of the mysteries of the Mafia<br />

. He had vanished after his brother, Phillip was killed by Anastasia.<br />

Underboss – Albert Anastasia:<br />

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Albert 'mad hatter' Anastasia came to America in 1917 with his brother Anthony Anastasio and settled in<br />

Brooklyn. He earned his reputation by performing petty crimes and soon became a part of the International<br />

Longshoreman's Association. Albert was best known for his temper and violent streaks. He soon allied with<br />

Frankie Yale and entered the bootlegging business. He then served time for killing a fellow Longshoreman but<br />

the charges were soon dropped as all four witnesses ‘went missing’.<br />

He allegedly became a bodyguard of Joe Masseria and controlled the Brooklyn waterfront alongside Anthony,<br />

his brother. By the late 1920's he allied himself with Joe Adonis, Anthony Carfano, Al Mineo and Willie<br />

Moretti. He was extremely loyal to Charles Luciano since the very beginning of his involvement with the Mafia<br />

and readily volunteered to be a gunman in Luciano's plot to kill Joe Masseria at the time of the Castellamarese<br />

War in 1930. His brutality and loyalty towards Luciano helped him achieve a top position in the Mangano<br />

crime family. Once Maranzano was killed, Luciano set up the Commission and Anastasia became the chief of<br />

‘Murder Inc.’, the Commission’s enforcement arm, assuming the title of 'Lord High Executioner'. Anastasia was<br />

the middle man between the Commission and Murder Inc. Another Murder Inc. chief and Anastasia ally was<br />

Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter. The organization is said to have been responsible for up to 800 murders.<br />

Throughout the 1930s, Anastasia committed several murders but wasn’t convicted even once because in all<br />

the trials the witnesses somehow went missing. In 1940 he joined the US army to improve his reputation and<br />

attain US citizenship. It is noticed that despite the cold blooded, murderous characteristic, Anastasia was a<br />

man who liked to keep up his reputation as another incident is when he changed his name from Anastasio to<br />

Anastasia to avoid bringing shame to his family. In 1951, Vince Mangano disappeared and Anastasia became<br />

boss of the Mangano family. He ruled the family with terror and violence and was known to be ruthless. He<br />

was charged and convicted for tax evasion in 1955.<br />

Albert Anastasia was finally killed on October 25th, 1957 in the Park Sheridan Hotel. By the time of his death<br />

he was said to have committed over a 100 murders himself. And was without doubt one of the most violent<br />

and murderous crime bosses of all time.<br />

Consigliere – Philip Mangano:<br />

Just why Vincent Mangano appointed Anastasia over Philip is hard to understand. Blood has always been<br />

thicker than water as far as Sicilians are concerned. Men like Vincent Mangano trusted Italians over<br />

Americans, Sicilians more than Italians, close friends more than other Sicilians, but above all family over<br />

everyone else. Anastasia’s lineage, coming from mainland Italy would also have created a question mark over<br />

him as far as the brothers were concerned. Perhaps Philip did not have the backbone needed for the job or<br />

perhaps it was a political move to appease Charlie Luciano, undoubtedly the most powerful family head<br />

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among the five crime families, and a close friend of Anastasia. But Philip would stay close to Vincent, as his<br />

right hand man and they would work alongside each other for the next twenty years.<br />

One of the more notable killings Philip Mangano was involved in was the shooting of Joe “Pretty” Amberg and<br />

his driver Morris Kessler in September, 1935. Amberg a powerful racketeer, had orchestrated the murder of<br />

one of Anastasia’s friends, Hyman Kasner, and his killing was apparently an act of retribution. Philip Mangano<br />

was seemingly one of the four gunmen who lured Amberg and his chauffeur/bodyguard to a garage in<br />

Brownsville that was owned by Phil “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss, one of Murder Inc’s top killers. It’s hard to figure<br />

out why someone as high up the totem pole as Philip would get himself involved in the grass roots of a street<br />

hit, but it seems there was something personal in it. Amberg ran a chain of laundries that were cutting into the<br />

business operation of Mangano’s own dry cleaning establishments. After they had killed the two men, the four<br />

killers were surprised by a passing cop who chased them and fired at their car, but they managed to escape<br />

unharmed.<br />

The Bonanno Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Joe Bonanno:<br />

Joseph Bonanno was born on 18th January, 1905 in Castellamare Del Golfo in Sicily. When he was three years<br />

old, his family moved to the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn for about 10 years before returning to<br />

Italy. Bonanno slipped back into the United States in 1924 as a ‘stow away’ on a Cuban fishing boat bound for<br />

Tampa. By all accounts, he'd become active in the mafia during his youth in Italy. Almost from the beginning,<br />

Bonanno was recognized by his accomplices in Brooklyn as a man with superior organizational skills and quick<br />

instincts. Before long Bonanno got involved in one of the most lucrative businesses of all time - bootlegging.<br />

He also showed business acumen in the legitimate enterprises.<br />

A year later in 1925, Salvatore Maranzano entered America. He served as an underworld mentor to the upand-coming<br />

mobster, Bonanno. Bonanno soon made an impact on his fellow Mafiosi by showing him strategic<br />

skills and leadership. Together they set up breweries in New York and earned millions. They were, however,<br />

being troubled by another Mafia family in New York, the Morello/Masseria family. During the late 1920s, the<br />

15


Castellammarese war broke out between Maranzano’s family and the Morello family which peaked in 1930. It<br />

ended with Masseria's death in 1931. During the course of this war, Bonanno served as one of Maranzano's<br />

top men. However, Maranzano's victory was short lived. He was killed in September 1931, by men hired by the<br />

Young Turk - Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Bonanno, being Maranzano’s ally, was first informed of the plan to<br />

murder the boss and a pact was made between him and Luciano to ensure that he would not try to take<br />

revenge.<br />

Joseph Bonanno was then made the boss of Maranzano's crime family and even served on the Commission, a<br />

council of crime bosses whose primary purpose was to keep the peace among its constituent gangs. Like<br />

Maranzano, Bonanno was a traditional boss, a Moustache Pete, who firmly subscribed to the Sicilian Mafia<br />

code of conduct, which emphasized honourable dealings and obedience. The Bonanno family was the closest<br />

knit amongst all the families because Bonanno tried to restrict membership only to the Castellammarese<br />

Sicilians. He strongly believed that blood relations and a strict Sicilian upbringing would be the only way to<br />

hold the traditional values of the mafia together. Bonanno largely eschewed the lavish lifestyle associated with<br />

gangsters at the time. He did, however, have a decided preference for expensive cigars.<br />

Bonanno’s primary businesses included gambling, loansharking, number running, bookmaking, prostitution<br />

and pornography. His strong alliance with Joseph Profaci deterred the other 3 families from trying to steal<br />

their rackets. His cousin Stefano Magaddino supported him and helped him expand into Canada. Bonanno<br />

died on 11th May, 2002.<br />

Underboss– Giovanni Bonventre:<br />

Giovanni 'John' Bonventre was an early capo in the Bonanno Family. He was related to boss Joseph Bonanno<br />

and was the cousin of Vito Bonventre. Other relatives also included the Magaddino brothers Stefano, Antonio<br />

and Gaspare from Buffalo. All were natives of the Sicilian town Castellammare Del Golfo, where their families<br />

played a leading role in mafia activities.<br />

During the 1920's John lived amongst the Castellammarese in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His older cousin Vito<br />

was a leading figure in the Castellammarese community. Vito controlled a murderous gang called the Good<br />

Killers, also referred to by the press as the Bonventre Gang. During the late 1910's and early 1920's the Good<br />

Killers were credited with up to 125 murders. Whether or not John was a member of this crew is not known.<br />

When his cousin Joseph Bonanno fled Sicily to America in 1924, Bonventre helped him to enter New York<br />

when he was detained in Florida. Both men worked closely together and became much respected within the<br />

community. Both would participate in the Castellammarese war from 1930-1931 under the leadership of<br />

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Salvatore Maranzano. The war caused much bloodshed and one of the high profile victims was Bonventre’s<br />

elder cousin Vito. After the Castellammarese won the war Maranzano appointed the young Joseph Bonanno<br />

to lead the Castellammarese organization. Bonanno appointed his cousin John Bonventre as a capo. During<br />

that time Bonanno and Bonventre bought the Sunshine Dairy Farm near Middletown, which would become<br />

one of their many legitimate businesses. The farm mainly made Mozzarella cheese. Soon they controlled the<br />

production and prices of their product in New York, Vermont and Wisconsin.<br />

Bonventre married a woman named Caterina Vitale, who was possibly related to a Detroit mobster named<br />

Vito Vitale. Bonventre remained the underboss until 1950 when he went on an early 'retirement' and moved<br />

back to his native Castellammare Del Golfo.<br />

However, it seems that Bonventre didn't stop his involvement in Mafia business as he was present at the Hotel<br />

Delle Palme meeting in Palermo, Sicily, in October 1957. Amongst the attendants were his relatives Joseph<br />

Bonanno, Antonio Magaddino and Gaspare Magaddino and amongst the Sicilian delegates were Giuseppe<br />

Genco Russo, boss of Mussomeli and Cesare Manzella, boss of Cinisi. A month later Bonventre also attended<br />

the Apalachin Meeting where they would further discuss the drug trade from Sicily to Canada/America.<br />

Bonventre was also one of the many mobsters who were arrested during the Apalachin meeting when the<br />

police suddenly burst in. After about 8 hours questioning he was released. In December 1965 he was arrested<br />

again at his villa in Castellammare Del Golfo and charged for his criminal activities. Bonventre was exiled from<br />

America due to his Mafia involvements. When he died is not exactly known.<br />

Consigliere – John Tartamella:<br />

John Tartamella was born in Castellammarese Del Golfo, a town on the northwestern coast of Sicily. He came<br />

to the United States along with his cousin Joseph Bonanno. They were both illegal immigrants. They entered<br />

Florida and with the help of another cousin, John Bonventre, entered New York where they were taken to<br />

Williamsburg.<br />

Tartamella became part of the Castellammarese faction which consisted of other prominent gangsters such as<br />

Stefano Magaddino, Gaspar Milazzo, Salvatore Sabella, Joseph Bonanno himself, and their leader Salvatore<br />

Maranzano.<br />

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During the Castellammarese War between Joe Masseria’s faction and the Castellammarese faction, John<br />

Tartamella continued to be on Maranzano’s side. After the murder of Joe Masseria, both Bonanno and<br />

Tartamella secretly sided with Charles Luciano to overthrow Maranzano and set up the Commission. Joseph<br />

Bonanno was given most of Maranzano's crime family. He made John Bonventre his Underboss and ever so<br />

loyal John Tartamella was made Consigliere. He served as Consigliere to Joseph Bonanno and his family for<br />

over 30 years. He was considered to be a very wise and shrewd elder-statesman who was respected<br />

throughout La Cosa Nostra.<br />

The Profaci Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Joe Profaci:<br />

As noted organised crime author Carl Sifakis puts it, “if the average crime family 'godfather' is supposed to<br />

inspire respect, longtime boss of the Brooklyn crime family Joseph Profaci, missed the boat”. Widely regarded<br />

as THE most hated Mafia boss, because of his stingy and greedy nature, he disposed of modern habits and<br />

chose to function his family in the age-old pure “Sicilian” tradition, whereby the <strong>Boss</strong> would charge each<br />

member (Underboss, Consigliere included) a certain monthly fee to meet the members legal fees, bribery<br />

money and general family support. The “slush fund” - as it was known in the circles - under Joe Profaci<br />

charged every family $25 on monthly basis. Carmine Persico Jr., future family boss, complained that Profaci<br />

would charge even if a truck was to be hijacked, and that Persico had himself paid in excess of $1800 in taxes.<br />

Unlike other bosses who supported their families through monetary support, Profaci, the owner of a 328-acre<br />

estate on Long Island, just took and took.<br />

Profaci ruled with an iron fist, and came down hard on those refusing to live by his rules. In fact, it was not<br />

uncommon to find corpses around town, belonging to people who'd refused his slush payments. Yet Joe<br />

Profaci would widely qualify as what one calls a sycophant, or more simply, a suck-up. Not one to tick off those<br />

in power, he would agree with any suggestion or order put forward by a powerful Cosa Nostra member. The<br />

only <strong>Boss</strong> who remained after the upheaval of the Castellammarese War, Profaci was widely touted to have<br />

18


emained neutral in the war, but in actuality lay his support with Maranzano and his Castellammarese clan.<br />

Still, like many other members of the Mafiosi, Profaci ran his own legitimate businesses. As founder of the<br />

extremely successful 'Mama Mia Exporting Company', importers of high quality olive oil and tomato-paste, Joe<br />

Profaci earned himself the nickname of 'Olive Oil King'.<br />

The Olive Oil King was very close friends with fellow Cosa Nostra bosses Joe Bonanno, Vincent Mangano, and<br />

Santo Trafficante Sr, and their camaraderie extended to alliances in mafia activities. In fact, when the<br />

Trafficante leadership in Tampa was under threat from the Diedicue brothers, who had support from Vince<br />

and Phil Mangano, Profaci intervened and Trafficante was allowed to remain in his position in Tampa.<br />

Trafficante operated with the confidence that he had the support and backing of a national crime family.<br />

It is true to a great extent that Profaci allied with the right people at the right times, few as they may have<br />

been. And despite uprisings within his family, he remained in power till his death, of natural causes in 1962.<br />

Underboss – Joseph Magliocco:<br />

Joseph Magliocco also known as Joe Maluk, was Underboss of the Profaci Crime Family. He was born in<br />

Castellammare Del Golfo in Sicily. His life in Italy is a mystery but it is known that he immigrated to America in<br />

1914. Despite of weighing over 300 pounds he was known to be a very energetic man who exuded danger and<br />

confidence.<br />

As a youngster Magliocco was involved in illegal gambling and union racketeering. He was a silent partner in a<br />

liquor company, Alpine Wine and Liquor, and a linen company, Arrow Linen Company. He was a very close<br />

associate of Joseph Bonnano, who described him as a very good Italian Chef who loved to eat. However his<br />

family relations with as many as five influential Mafia heads helped him gain a quick entry into American<br />

organized crime. This happened when he went to the Statler Hotel Meeting held in Cleveland, Ohio hosted by<br />

Joseph Porrello. This meeting was however disrupted by the police and Magliocco was briefly detained on an<br />

illegal weapons charge.<br />

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Magliocco was an in-law of Colombo crime family Salvatore Mussachio. Magliocco was also related by<br />

marriage to Buffalo crime family <strong>Boss</strong> Stefano Magaddino and was the uncle of Bonano Crime family founder<br />

Joseph Bonanno’s wife Rosalie. Most importanty, Magliocco was brother-in-law to mob boss Joseph Profaci,<br />

founder of the Profaci Crime Family. When Joseph Profaci organized his crime family he named Magliocco as<br />

Underboss – a position he held for 31 years. His son Ambrose Magliocco served as a capo during his rule of the<br />

Colombo crime family.<br />

Joseph Magliocco was a young teen when he entered organized crime in America. Utilizing his family<br />

associations he quickly rose to the rank of Underboss and later <strong>Boss</strong>. However his reputation in the Committee<br />

was damaged after he and Joe Bonnano were convicted by the Commission. However his criminal operations<br />

continued in Staten Island and Brooklyn till his death.<br />

Consigliere – Salvatore Profaci:<br />

Salvatore Profaci, was brother of famous mobster Joe Profaci, and served as his consigliere. The Profaci family<br />

had a long list of illicit activities : which are known to include gambling, loansharking, arson, extortion, labor<br />

racketeering, cigarette smuggling, pornography, bankruptcy and mail fraud, tax evasion and counterfeiting.<br />

One of Profaci's brothers-in-law was Joseph Magliocco, who served as Profaci's Underboss. Joe Profaci's niece<br />

Rosalie Profaci was married to Salvatore Bonanno, the son of Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Bonanno.<br />

Profaci was the uncle of Salvatore Profaci Jr., also a member of the Profaci crime family. This shows how both<br />

Joe and Salvatore Profaci were insecure about letting outsiders into their families, and this mentality of theirs<br />

was not very much appreciated by the newer mafioso, such as Lucky Luciano.<br />

Though Salvatore's brother, Joe Profaci was a very flamboyant man, and loved the limelight, Salvatore was<br />

way more passive, and prefered to work underground. It is said that Salvatore Profaci often tried to convince<br />

his brother not to get caught attending public events.<br />

Salvatore also took control of his brothers Olive Oil business, "Mama Mia Importing Company." Profaci owned<br />

20 other businesses that employed hundreds of workers in New York. Salvatore Profaci lived with his brother<br />

Joe, who owned a large house in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a home in Miami Beach, Florida, and an 328-acre<br />

estate on Long Island that previously belonged to President Theodore Roosevelt. This speaks volumes about<br />

how lucrative their businesses were and how they enjoyed a lavish lifestyle.<br />

Salvatore Profaci was also once caught by the FBI giving advice to a mobster embroiled in a lawsuit. Though<br />

nobody knows what follows after this incident. There is not much information about Salvatore Profaci’s life or<br />

death, and this is because he stayed out of any kind of publicity or media, and silently worked, and earned<br />

millions for the family.<br />

"Goodfellas don't sue goodfellas, Goodfellas kill goodfellas."-Salvatore Profaci.<br />

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The Gagliano Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> - Gaetano Gagliano:<br />

If the ingredients for being a successful mob boss are keeping a low profile, avoiding arrest, shunning media<br />

publicity, and above all else longevity – then no Mafia leader has proved himself more than Gaetano<br />

“Thomas” Gagliano.<br />

Gagliano entered the U.S in spring 1905 and settled in East Harlem. It appears likely that Gagliano was<br />

associated with the Morello-Terranova Mafia in East Harlem. He later became a member of Reina's Bronxbased<br />

underworld organization. In the later 1920s, Reina and Terranova became rivals. Gagliano teamed up<br />

with the younger Lucchese and together they backed Masseria's organization during the Castellammare War<br />

against the forces of Salvatore Maranzano. Masseria, however, grew suspicious about Reina and had him<br />

killed in February 1930. Masseria then appointed Joseph Pinzolo as leader of the gang which was much to the<br />

dislikes of Gagliano, Lucchese and their men. Not much later they had Pinzolo murdered. Gagliano deserted<br />

Masseria and joined the alliance of Maranzano. This was one of the important changes in the course of the<br />

war which would lead to the murder of Al Mineo. Gagliano had appointed some of his men to perform the<br />

killings. One of the men present was his underlings Joseph Valachi, who would later move to the Luciano<br />

Famiy. In April 1931 Masseria was eventualy murdered in a Coney Island restaurant while dining with his<br />

lieutenant Charles Luciano.<br />

Gagliano was then recognized by Maranzano as the official succeeder of Gaetano Reina and got control of his<br />

organization which was largely based in the Bronx. Gagliano appointed the loyal Tommy Lucchese as his<br />

second in command. A couple of months later also Maranzano was murdered in his office by men sent by<br />

Luciano. After the <strong>Boss</strong> of <strong>Boss</strong>es status was removed Gagliano became a member of the National Mafia<br />

Commission along with the other 4 New York bosses and others from across the country. Gagliano stayed boss<br />

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of his family for about 20 years and during this period the family created lucrative businesses. His New York<br />

crime family was considered to be the fairest and most peaceful. During his tenure as boss he always kept a<br />

low profile and is hardly seen on photographs. Very little is known about Gagliano between 1931 and his<br />

death in the early 1950s.<br />

Underboss - Gaetano Lucchese:<br />

Thomas Lucchese was the diminutive 5 feet 2 inch tall, four-fingered underboss of the Gagliano Family under<br />

the leadership of Gaetano Gagliano. He was nicknamed “Three-Finger Brown” (even though Lucchese had all<br />

of four fingers) after a famed baseball pitcher of the time, Mordecai Brown, after he lost a finger in an<br />

accident at a machinery shop in Harlem.<br />

Famed for being one of the 'classiest' mafiosi of La Cosa Nostra, Lucchese regularly mingled with top<br />

politicians, businessmen, prosecutors and police officials. He was known to have a penchant for making<br />

friends and was said to have a very peaceful and cerebral approach to his activities, much like Frank Costello.<br />

Yet “peaceful” was a term that would seldom be used to describe Lucchese in his early career and was said to<br />

be the preferred hit-man of Charles Luciano; an exorbitant achievement considering he had “Mad Hatter”<br />

Anastasia to give him competition. He served time in Sing Sing Prison in 1923, while working as a bodyguard<br />

for Luciano, and was involved in the murders of several (no less than 30) of Maranzano's men during the<br />

rebellion. But - and this ability is probably what made Lucchese one of the most complete mafiosi of his time -<br />

he got his initial sentence cut down from three years to thirteen months on account of good behaviour,<br />

something no member of the Mafia had ever achieved. And those thirteen months was the most time he ever<br />

spent behind bars. His extraordinary ability to blend the violent with the gentle won him several admirers<br />

within and outside the Mafia.<br />

Lucchese had managed to establish several legitimate businesses in the garment and trucking industry, which<br />

not only allowed him to gain control over local trade unions, but also gave him the power to brush shoulders<br />

with several people in local governments. Among his good friends was Armand Chankalian, administrative<br />

22


assistant to the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York, who in turn introduced him to<br />

U.S. Attorney Myles Lane. Another of his “friends” was Thomas Murphy, assistant U.S. Attorney, who would<br />

become the New York police commissioner in 1950. But, the most high profile among his many associates<br />

were - Mayor of New York City at the time, William O'Dwyer, and his successor Vincent Impellitteri. Jimmy<br />

Durante, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin were also well known to be in Lucchese's circles.<br />

Thomas Lucchese died on July 13, 1967, after suffering from brain tumour over the past few months with a<br />

history of heart disease. Over a 1000 people attended his funeral, including several high-ranking mobsters,<br />

politicians, judges, businessmen, drug-peddlers, all of whom knew that the police and FBI surveillance teams<br />

would be watching, but showed up, despite a message from the Lucchese family saying they would<br />

understand if someone could not attend. The thing was, Tommy Lucchese was so well-respected, that nothing<br />

would keep them away.<br />

Consigliere – Stefano Rondelli:<br />

Tommy Lucchese, Gaetano Gagliano, and Stefano "Steve" Rondelli were all top lieutenants for Gaetano "Tom"<br />

Reina. Tommy Lucchese ran his own gang/crew in East Harlem called the 107st crew which Rondelli was a part<br />

of.<br />

In 1930, the Castellammarese War was being fought between two rival crime bosses, Giuseppe "Joe the <strong>Boss</strong>"<br />

Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Lucchese began the war as the right-hand man of Gaetano Gagliano, the<br />

head of a family aligned with Masseria. Reina began to change his alliance from Masseria to Salvatore<br />

Maranzano. This was because Masseria was demanding a share of Reina’s ice distribution. Gaetano Gagliano<br />

told Joe Masseria about his boss Tom Reina’s betrayal in hopes of getting on Masseria good side. Vito<br />

Genovese, a Masseria gunman, killed the 40-year-old Tom Reina on February 26, 1930 outside his mistress'<br />

apartment. Masseria had suspected Reina of plotting with Maranzano and decided to replace him with a more<br />

controllable ally, Joseph Pinzolo.<br />

Angry about being passed over, Gaetano Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese formed a splinter group within the<br />

family with help from other members (Stefano "Steve" Rondelli, Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli, Joe Valachi and<br />

others). Other members of the family joined their cause because Pinzolo was a disagreeable man, which soon<br />

led to everyone hating him. On September 9, 1930, Joseph Pinzolo was lured to an office leased by Lucchese<br />

and Rondelli on Broadway in Manhattan, where he was shot by Girolamo "Bobby Doyle" Santucci or Dominick<br />

Petrilli. Luckily for Lucchese, Masseria attributed the killing to Maranzano. Joe Masseria then decided to put<br />

Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano in as the new boss of the Reina gang.<br />

Rondelli was known to be a hard worker in the Gagliano family, and after Gagliano came into power, Gagliano<br />

and Lucchese made sure that Rondelli was granted a seat in the Commission.<br />

Rondelli also had connections with Vincenzo Rao, who later went on to succeed Rondelli as Consigliere for the<br />

Lucchese family and also Joe Valachi.<br />

23


The Chicago Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Al Capone:<br />

Alphonse "Scarface" Capone was the boss of the Chicago Outfit at the time of the formation of the<br />

Commission in 1931. Born in 1899 after his parents had emigrated from Sicily, he had three brothers. Frank<br />

and Ralph Capone eventually joined him in his practices later in life, but Vincenzo changed his name to Joseph<br />

Hart and moved to Nebraska where, he became a law officer.<br />

Although he was unusually bright in school, he dropped out in the sixth grade. As a teen he was a member of<br />

two street gangs, the Brooklyn Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors. He flitted from job to job (candy store<br />

clerk, pinboy at bowling alley, cutter in a book bindery).<br />

However he became a part of the Five Points Gang where he met mentor and future business associate,<br />

Frankie Yale, for whom he worked as a bouncer and a bartender. He also became close to Johnny Torrio, for<br />

whom he had worked in one of his youth gangs and who would go on to have a great effect on his life.<br />

He received his infamous scars for complementing a patron while he was a bartender, in the presence of her<br />

brother. He was also forced to apologize to this man, Frank Gallucio. He married Mae Coughlin in 1918 and<br />

had a son whom he named Albert Francis Capone. Though he loved Mae and was always faithful to her, he<br />

never told her about what he did at his business (though she would later come to know of it). He tried to get<br />

into a legitimate business in 1920, but when his father died, he moved back into Torrio's fold.<br />

He eventually became Torrio's second in command. He was said to be intensely loyal but had a strong temper.<br />

If anyone abused or got in a fight with any of his friends, he would kill them without hesitation.<br />

Torrio got rid of his boss, Jim Colosimo, when he was unwilling to expand into bootlegging at the onset of the<br />

Prohibition. Capone contested for mayorship in 1924, but due to him kidnapping opponents’ election workers<br />

and threatening voters, a large police force descended on Cicero and killed Capone's brother Frank.<br />

Capone's long feud with the North-Siders gang, his main enemies started when their leader, Dion O' Bannion<br />

double crossed the Gennas, long time-allies of Capone and ambushed Torrio and got him sent to jail. Bannion<br />

was murdered in his flower shop by men who he thought came to get the flowers for Mike Merlo's (the head<br />

of Unione Siciliano in Chicago) funeral.<br />

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This started a long feud between Dion's fellow gang members and Capone. In the next two years Hymie Weiss<br />

and Bugs Moran made a dozen murder attempts on Capone. Capone was forced to travel only at night, in the<br />

presence of a bodyguard. At this point Torrio, having been released from jail, went back to Italy.<br />

Capone, in 1925, controlled a large business with an income of $100,000,000 a year and an estimated worth of<br />

$ 627,000,000. In an expedition to New York, he was involved in the murder of Richard Lonergan, one of the<br />

rival gang leaders to Yale, who had invited Capone. This invited the attention of prosecutor William McSwiggin<br />

who, on trying to get information from Irish gang leaders, was murdered accidentally by Capone's men. This<br />

caused the good reputation Capone had with the people of Chicago, to diminish. Capone started getting rid of<br />

his remaining problems, namely Hymie Weiss and Moran. Weiss had tried to assassinate Capone in his<br />

headquarters. One month later, he was assassinated while crossing the road. Capone also got wind of the fact<br />

that Yale was betraying him by hijacking his own trucks and selling the goods back to him. Yale was murdered<br />

outside his home on July 1, 1928. This shows that Capone, although fiercely loyal, would murder friends, if<br />

required.<br />

Attempts on Capone's life were never successful due to the fact that he had an extensive spy network in<br />

Chicago, from newspaper boys to policemen, so that any plots were quickly discovered. Capone, on the other<br />

hand, was skillful at isolating and killing his enemies when they became too powerful. Although Capone<br />

ordered dozens of deaths and even killed with his own hands, he often treated people fairly and generously.<br />

He was equally known for his violent temper and for his strong sense of loyalty and honor. The Chicago<br />

kingpin was largely immune to prosecution due to witness intimidation and the bribing of city officials.<br />

An attempt to kill Moran resulted in the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre where seven of Moran's men<br />

were lined up against the wall by Capone's men, impersonating policemen and shot. Moran escaped but was<br />

later arrested for robbery. This was the first public use of the ‘Tommy Gun’.<br />

Capone's popularity attracted the attention of President Hoover who ordered an investigation into his tax<br />

evasion. Andrew Mellon,the Secretary of The Treasury, led this investigation.Treasury Agent Eliot Ness and his<br />

hand-picked team led the search to pursue Capone for his failure to pay tax.<br />

Capone was tried on October 17, 1931. His attempts to bribe the jury were unsuccessful as the jury was<br />

replaced at the last minute. He was found guilty on eighteen counts of tax evasion and two counts of wilful<br />

failure to file tax returns. Capone was sentenced to 11 years of prison. Even in Atlanta prison, he began to<br />

flaunt his status and gain extra privileges. He was sent to Alcatraz. He was released early in 1939 for good<br />

behavior. He spent the rest of his years in his estate in Palm Beach, Florida where he died on January 25, 1947<br />

due to complications of syphilis.<br />

25


Underboss – Frank Nitti:<br />

Frank Nitti was s the underboss of the Chicago family at the time of the formation of the Commission in 1931.<br />

He was born in Sicily and immigrated to Chicago at the end of World War I. He took up a part time job as a<br />

barber. Among his clientele were many eminent Mafia bosses. This enabled him to build up a large stockpile of<br />

information. This came to the notice of Johnny Torrio who recruited him as the brains of the Outfit. When<br />

Capone took over the gang, he became the second in command. He was in charge of all their bootlegging<br />

ventures.<br />

Though his nickname was the “Enforcer”, he never committed any crimes himself. He was more involved in<br />

the planning of the act and was never involved in its execution. Along with Capone, he was sentenced to 18<br />

months in prison for tax evasion. After Capone’s imprisonment, the media needed a new face of organized<br />

crime in the City<br />

and Nitti was it. He behaved like a star too, living a lavish life and showing off in public at every opportunity<br />

though his power in the Outfit was waning and his position was being taken over by Paul Riccia. In 1932, he<br />

was shot point blank during a storming of his home by police officials. This was probably an effort by the<br />

mayor, Anton Cermak, to remove Capone’s ppeople<br />

eople and plant those he favoured. Though Nitti lingered near<br />

death for a long time, he finally recovered, which only served to further hhis<br />

is legend. In 1943, the entire<br />

leadership of the Outfit tfit was apprehended for it its s large scale racketeering in the movie iindustry.<br />

Nitti, being the<br />

face of the gang, was expected to “take the rap” for all of them. This would probably lead to a life sentence for<br />

him. It was this pressure, along with the knowledge that, if he ‘‘ratted’’ the others out, he would surely be<br />

killed, , that drove Nitti to commit suicide on March 19, 1943.<br />

26


The Buffalo Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Stefano Magaddino:<br />

Stefano Magaddino was born on October 10, 1891 in Castellammare, Sicily. Before leaving Sicily the<br />

Magaddino brothers - Antonino, Pietro, and Stefano, were involved in a feud with the Buccellato brothers.<br />

During this time Pietro was murdered and the other two brothers left for the United States settling in<br />

Brooklyn. Magaddino was one of the people representing Don Vito Cascio Ferro, the boss of all bosses in Sicily<br />

at the time (who had also sent Salvatore Maranzano to America). Magaddino was also part of a group called<br />

the "Twenties Group" consisting similar people. On August 16, 1921 Magaddino was arrested for his<br />

involvement a murder that took place in Avon, New Jersey. Shortly after this, Magaddino and Gaspar Milazzo<br />

were shot at as they walked out of a Brooklyn store. The attempted ambush resulted in the death of two<br />

innocent bystanders. The shooting attempt had been made by members of the Buccellato clan. The retaliation<br />

would claim the lives of several Buccellato men. When police suspected Magaddino and Milazzo they both left<br />

Brooklyn for Buffalo and Detroit respectively.<br />

In 1930, the Castellammarese War was raging in New York City. The war pitted Salvatore Maranzano against<br />

Joe "The <strong>Boss</strong>" Masseria. When the war broke out, the Masseria forces, the larger of the two factions, boasted<br />

the likes of Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, Albert Anastasia, Tom Gagliano, and Tommy Lucchese.<br />

On the Maranzano side was Joe Profaci, Joe Magliocco, and Joe Bonanno, who was Magaddino’s cousin.<br />

During the months of fighting, Magaddino helped the Maranzano cause by sending $5,000 a week.<br />

Before Prohibition ended Magaddino began peddling a non-alcoholic mixture called "Home Juice." The local<br />

Italian population was compelled to purchase the concoction that was sold door-to-door. The immigrants<br />

quickly realized that refusal to buy the product could prove detrimental to their health, in which case another<br />

mob-run business was available to cater to their needs, the Magaddino Memorial Chapel funeral home.<br />

Construction projects frequently were required to stay on the good side of the godfather.<br />

One journalist described him as “the grand old man of Cosa Nostra.” Known as Don Stefano to his friends and<br />

27


“The Undertaker” to others, he was also a charter member of the American Mafia's ruling council, otherwise<br />

known as The Commission.<br />

An illiterate, Magaddino was by no means a stupid man, instead boasting a rustic simplicity. Even his cousin,<br />

Joe Bonanno, who came to hate him and was said to have actively plotted his murder, said “his instinct for<br />

self-preservation was uncanny.” He also demonstrated his “instinct for self preservation” over the years by<br />

surviving several attacks on his life.<br />

Once established in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area, Magaddino ran a profitable bootlegging business due to<br />

the city’s close proximity to Canada. Through bootlegging revenues Magaddino made his family one of the<br />

most profitable crime units in the country, heavy into loan-sharking, shakedowns, gambling and labor rackets.<br />

The Buffalo family allowed the Cleveland Syndicate to smuggle illegal booze from Canada through Buffalo.<br />

Magaddino led his Buffalo family through its glory years and it’s most powerful and profitable era in La Cosa<br />

Nostra. He was an old-style boss who preferred to stay in the background and not draw any attention to<br />

himself or his criminal activities. Due to his territory's remoteness (despite the fact that he controlled a vast<br />

amount) and being geographically insulated from the inter-family squabbles of the New York City-based<br />

families, he was held in high regard and was at times called upon to be an arbiter involving territorial disputes<br />

between crime families based there.<br />

After Prohibition, Magaddino and his organization made their money through loan sharking, gambling,<br />

extortion, hijacking, drug trafficking and labor racketeering. The family was also branching out west, into Ohio,<br />

and north, into Canada.<br />

Underboss – Giovanni Montana:<br />

Born in Montedoro, Sicily on July 1, 1893, Montana came to Buffalo at the age of 13 in 1907 and quickly began<br />

to show his entrepreneurial business talents. In grade school Montana made his first dollars as a messenger<br />

for a West Side candy shop running errands and messages. With his brothers Salvatore, Angelo, Peter and<br />

Joseph, the 17 year old John Charles Montana first pushed a popcorn cart through Buffalo’s Little Italy at a<br />

time when Italians lived in a high density area on the Lower West Side and downtown. Because the demand<br />

was so great, the Montana brothers had to fold their first business as they couldn’t supply the many people<br />

who wanted their goods.<br />

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In time, Don Stefano Magaddino would become the boss of the Mafia in Buffalo and organize an empire with<br />

John Montana at the top. Years down the road, Montana’s nephew Charles would marry the oldest daughter<br />

of Don Stefano; Don Stefano’s only son Peter also married Montana’s niece. Through family ties, John<br />

Montana merged with the most ruthless criminal leader Buffalo had ever seen. Montana was a smart<br />

businessman though. He never fit the description of what a Mafiosi was supposed to be.<br />

In 1922, John Montana formed the Buffalo Taxi Company – his first stab at joining Buffalo’s booming<br />

transportation industry. A few years later he bought and merged with the Yellow Cab Company in an effort to<br />

consolidate cars and call centers as well as eliminate the taxi competition. While accusations were rare and<br />

unconfirmed, some opinions stated Montana’s cabs were corrupt. While working at a legitimate and<br />

successful business, Van Dyke (another taxi company that he acquired) drivers were said at times to transport<br />

gambling paraphernalia and liquor<br />

Montana was given the Republican nod to run for the City’s Common Council; he was first elected a<br />

representative from the Niagara District in 1927 and then re-elected again in 1929. For four years Montana<br />

served the City of Buffalo on the Council and saw major advances in an already booming city. On the Council<br />

he was the Chairman of the Housing and Slum Clearance Committee, which gave his Mafia associates a direct<br />

influence over where people lived and what reconstruction efforts would be made. He also served as<br />

Chairman of the Labor Relations and Compensation Committee, allegedly giving the Mafia some influence in<br />

different unions in the area.<br />

Montana has been associated with Stefano Magaddino, Antonino Magaddino, Peter Magaddino, Angelo<br />

Palmieri, Paul Palmieri, Charles Montana, Jimmy LaDuca, Vincent Sciro, Sammy Lagatutta, Joseph DiCarlo, Jr.,<br />

Steve Cannazarro, Russell Buffalino, Joseph Bonanno, Salvatore Maranzano, Joseph Profaci, Joseph Barbara<br />

His cumulative business interests include Montana Company (City Bussing), Montana Motors (Auto Sales &<br />

Repair), Buffalo Taxi Company, Yellow Cab Company, Van Dyke Taxicab Company (aka Van Dyke Taxi) and its<br />

subsidiaries: (Van Dyke Transfer Corp., Van Dyke Taxi & Transfer Company, Van Dyke Baggage Corp., Van Dyke<br />

Airport Transportation Company), Empire State Brewery Corp. (Olean), Frontier Liquor Corp., Buffalo Beverage<br />

Company<br />

29


The Cleveland Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Frank Milano:<br />

Frank "Ciccio" Milano was the boss of the Cleveland crime family or the Mayfield Road Mob when the<br />

commission was formed in 1931. Born in 1890, he emigrated from Sicily with his parents and his brother<br />

Anthony in the early 1900s.<br />

At first, he was involved with petty theft and minor extortion. He formed a gang called the Mayfield Road Mob<br />

which he led with Anthony as his right-hand man. The people who knew him described him as shrewd and<br />

cunning. This trait of his would come into use in the 1920s when, he rose from a small-time gang to an outfit<br />

which was a major competitor in the struggle for the control of organised crime in Cleveland. After the<br />

Porello's defeated the Lonardo's in their war for Cleveland, the remaining members of the Lonardo family<br />

were inducted into the Mayfield Road Mob. The outfit was also associated with the powerful Cleveland<br />

Syndicate, headed by Moe Dalitz.<br />

Frank's main areas of income was the bootlegging trade, where he imported alcohol from Canada through the<br />

Lake Erie, and the corn sugar industries previously owned by the Lonardo's. However their few corn sugar<br />

factories were not enough and Frank decided to take whatever else the Porello's had. He called Joe Porello<br />

and asked for a piece of his business. When Joe arrived for the supposed meeting at Frank's restaurant, he was<br />

gunned down. James Porello was murdered in public view in a grocery shop. Raymond Porello's house was<br />

bombed in his absence as a sign of intimidation. When this didn't work, he and his brother Rosario were also<br />

shot down. Like almost all of Cleveland's gang-related hits, no one was ever brought to justice.<br />

At this point, Frank's outfit had sole control over Cleveland. After he took care of his enemies in the Porello<br />

Family, he led a charmed life. He never stayed in the same house for more than 3 months, and no one was<br />

ever successful in planning a hit on him or his brother Anthony. However, shortly after the last Porello brother<br />

was killed, Frank was dealt the twin blow of the repealing of the Prohibition, due to which he lost a primary<br />

source of income, and the investigation by the police into his tax-paying irregularities.<br />

He was eventually forced to flee Cleveland for Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1933, where he remained underground for<br />

a long time before surfacing in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, where he promptly got involved with the<br />

30


underworld structure present there.<br />

Underboss –Anthony Milano:<br />

Anthony "Tony" Milano was the brother of Cleveland mob boss, Frank Milano, and served as his underboss for<br />

many years. He was born in Calabria, and was not Sicilian, yet got a seat in the Commission. He was known to<br />

host weekly dinners at the Italian-American Brotherhood Club in Little Italy. The dinners were attended by<br />

many of the city's leading politicians, labor leaders and businessmen.<br />

By 1929, Little Italy crime <strong>Boss</strong> Frank Milano had risen to power as leader of his gang, "The Mayfield Road<br />

Mob." In 1931, Frank became boss of the Cleveland crime family, being an original member of The<br />

Commission along with his brother Anthony. Anthony Milano and his brother had grown quite big, and were<br />

part of many notable businesses such as bootlegging and construction rackets. One business which stood out<br />

was that of dealing in corn sugar which was used to make corn liquor.<br />

Anthony also had very friendly relations with another Cleveland based mobster, Moe Dalitz, who was one of<br />

the biggest bootleggers in Cleveland at the time, having connections with the likes of Sam Bronfman in Canada<br />

and even Meyer Lansky. Dalitz is known to have even helped the Mayfield Road Mob in their struggle to<br />

power in Cleveland, and as a reward, Dalitz was allowed to carry out hassle-free bootlegging in Cleveland by<br />

Anthony and his brother. Lake Erie was one of the primary trade routes for liquor to come into Cleveland,<br />

where it was supervised by Anthony Milano, and Moe Dalitz. Sam Bronfman was the famous Canadian dealer<br />

who supplied liquor through these trade routes. It is said that so much liquor flowed through Lake Erie, that it<br />

was called the “Jewish Lake” during Prohibition.<br />

There are no known enemies as such of Anthony Milano, as he mostly served under his brother and did not<br />

pick fights with mobsters on his own. Though he was older than his brother, his brother was <strong>Boss</strong> of the family<br />

and not him. Maybe this is because of his passive nature, or maybe he was taking a cover. In 1935, when his<br />

brother fled the country due to tax evasion, Anthony Milano continued as Underboss, and let Alfred Polizzi<br />

become <strong>Boss</strong> of the family.<br />

31


Consigliere – Al Polizzi:<br />

Al Polizzi immigrated to Cleveland at the age of 9, with his parents and brothers, in 1909. He began as a<br />

teenager with petty crime, along with some Jewish friends, known in the district which bordered his own. He<br />

formed a strong friendship with a young Jew, Leo Berkowitz. Berkowitz would prove to be his right arm for life.<br />

In the early twenties, he was officially made "honorable man" of the Family of Cleveland, by boss Joe Lonardo.<br />

It quickly became one of the most important and respected the Mafia Families in America. During Prohibition,<br />

he was in partnership with his brother Joseph Polizzi, Anthony Milano, Leo Berkowitz and Moe Dalitz. Polizzi<br />

along with Berkowitz and Dalitz, consolidated and strengthened their relationship with the Jewish criminal<br />

groups, and formed one of the nation's most important criminal alliances. His early arrests date back to the<br />

early twenties, on charges such as robbery, violation of the "Volsted Act" for illegal smuggling of alcohol, tax<br />

evasion and suspect to murder, but he only spent a few months in jail, all thanks to his political contacts and<br />

the corruption of various courts at that point in time.<br />

Later in 1936, after the murder of Giuseppe Romano, he was appointed as the head of the Cleveland crime<br />

family.<br />

32


The Detroit Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Guglielmo Tocco:<br />

Born in Sicily, Guglielmo Vito Tocco moved to the USA in 1910. He was a part of the military during World War<br />

I in 1914. After the war ended he went to Detroit with his cousin Joseph Zerilli. In Detroit he aligned with the<br />

Gianolla brothers (Antonio, Salvatore). During that time the gunman of the Gianollas was Angelo Meli, who<br />

had shortly joined them. The Gianolla brothers had strengthened their liquor business with John Vitale but<br />

during this time a conflict had started between the two. Peter Bosco, a close associate of Vitale, was killed.<br />

Vitale broke out from the Gianolla gang and a war started. Antonio and Salvatore were killed during the course<br />

of the war. Tocco and seven other gunmen were arrested because of the killing of Vitale gunman Antonio<br />

Badalamenti but they were soon acquitted because of lack of proof. After their release Vitale was killed by the<br />

organisation called "The Good Killers".<br />

After Gianollas’ murder Angelo Meli headed the organisation. Tocco at this time strengthend bonds with Zerilli<br />

by marrying his sister Rosalie in 1928. During this time Tocco wasn’t aggressive and did not perform any<br />

killings directly but started strengthening his power in the Detroit underworld. He befriended Catalanotte who<br />

had a lot of power in Detroit during that time. In 1932 Tocco was arrested for violation of the Prohibition Law.<br />

In 1936 Tocco was brought back to court for tax evasion.<br />

The federal government estimated his income at a total of $180,576 for which he paid less than $300 as tax.<br />

Tocco was released for paying $3000 as fine.<br />

Toccos wealth had various legal sources such as the Detroit Italian Baking Company which was opened in 1930<br />

with Joseph Zerilli and The Lafayette Motors an automobile company which sold Chryslers.<br />

Later on he owned Melrose Linen Service too.<br />

33


Toccos son Tony married Joe Profaci’s daughter thereby consolidating relations with his family. Toccos<br />

daughter married into the Dragna family of Los Angeles.<br />

Underboss – Joseph Zerilli:<br />

In the early 1920s, Detroit was not a Mafia town. Instead, it belonged almost exclusively to the Jewish<br />

gangsters of the Purple Gang and to smaller Purple rivals, including the Little Jewish Navy. The primary source<br />

of income of the Detroit crime game was booze (although jewel robberies, hijacking and extortion were<br />

common as well) and the Purples were determined to control it. In the process they committed upward of 500<br />

gang murders on a per capita basis, probably far outdistancing Al Capone’s gangland hits in Chicago. The<br />

Purples had the ability to work well with mafiosi and during the Detroit gang wars they imported Yonnie<br />

Licavoli and his gunners from St. Louis. They also worked well with Gaspar Milazzo and another fast rising<br />

Sicilian gangster, Joseph Zerilli. The later Licavoli family split its time between Detroit and Cleveland (as did<br />

Purples such as Moe Dalitz). Milazzo was assassinated in 1930 by New York mafiosi fighting their own Old<br />

World wars. Zerilli rose to the top as the Purples pulled out from the local rackets to take far more lucrative<br />

positions in the national syndicate’s gambling enterprises elsewhere.<br />

Zerilli had come to the United States from Sicily at the age of 17 and started out as a pick-and-shovel laborer.<br />

Joining with the Purples in a number of criminal activities, he eventually built an illegal operation that ran up<br />

profits of $150 million a year from enterprises such as loan-sharking, extortion, narcotics, bookmaking and<br />

labor racketeering. Unlike some mafiosi, Zerilli did not turn his back on prostitution. Anything that made<br />

money, Zerilli wanted. As a Detroit citizen, Zerilli posed as a baker-businessman.<br />

He lived in a $500,000 home on a 20-acre suburban estate, quite an accomplishment for a breadmaker. As a<br />

Detroit don, Zerilli was personally involved in several murders, but throughout his lifetime was convicted only<br />

twice, paying fines for such gross offenses as speeding and carrying concealed weapons. Highly honored as a<br />

godfather, Zerilli was for a time one of only two non-New York members of the National Commission. He did<br />

not play a role in the national organization of crime, however, because he respected the rights of other bosses<br />

to rule their own territories, and he always demanded that same right for Detroit. Zerilli retired from control<br />

of the crime family business in his early 70s, successfully installing his son as his successor, something other<br />

dons have tried and failed to do. It was different in Detroit. The Zerilli touch had been perfect, and no one<br />

wanted to tamper with what old Joe Zerilli said would work. But in 1975, the elder Zerilli was forced to return<br />

to the helm, in part because his son received a four-year sentence for conspiring to obtain a hidden interest in<br />

a Las Vegas casino. Also pending was the very troublesome matter of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa was<br />

34


ecoming hard-of-hearing. Zerilli through his top lieutenant, Tony Giacalone had informed the labor leader<br />

after his release from prison to cool it, that everyone was happy with Frank Fitzsimmons running the<br />

Teamsters. Unfortunately for Hoffa, he kept right on coming. Exactly who was responsible for Jimmy Hoffa’s<br />

disappearance and evident murder on July 30, 1975, is unknown. The conventional wisdom cites<br />

Pennsylvania– upstate New York boss Russ Bufalino and New Jersey mafioso Tony Provenzano as the likely<br />

assailants. However, the man Hoffa was slated to meet outside a Detroit-area restaurant was Zerilli aide<br />

Giacalone. Hoffa was snatched in Detroit and probably killed there. If Joe Zerilli insisted on any one thing, it<br />

was control of his turf.<br />

Nothing was ever done in Detroit by other mafiosi without his approval, and he was never known to tolerate<br />

any outsiders handling rubouts in his area. If a murder was done in Detroit, he not only had to be requested to<br />

allow it, but also had to handle it. Zerilli was the kind of old Don who insisted on such protocol. Once, a Detroit<br />

Mafiosi, Nick Licata, fell into disfavour with Zerilli and fled to Los Angeles. Zerilli notified Jack and Tom Dragna<br />

that Licata was there. Acknowledging a sort of Golden Rule in crime, Zerilli would never have dreamed of<br />

going into L.A. territory in violation of the Dragna rights there. Instead, he suggested rather than requested<br />

(which would have been binding) that L.A. carry out the hit. Consequently, Zerilli did not object when the<br />

Dragnas decided not to go ahead with the hit, and even took Licata into the family. Zerilli held that it was their<br />

right to do so. All he ever insisted on in return was that he would decide on all hits in Detroit, and there are<br />

those observers who feel that the Hoffa matter was completely a Joe Zerilli operation. The police never got a<br />

word out of the old man on the Hoffa disappearance.<br />

The Florida Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – Ignacio Antinori:<br />

Ignacio Antinori (February 17, 1885 – October 23, 1940) was an Italy-born Florida mobster who built one of<br />

the earliest narcotics trafficking networks in that state. Antinori was regarded as the first boss of the Tampa<br />

crime family, later known as the Trafficante crime family. He is credited for setting up the first Italian Gang in<br />

the Tampa Bay area, in 1925.<br />

35


Antinori, whose family immigrated into the United States when he was eighteen, was one of the first mobsters<br />

to emerge in Florida during the Prohibition era. He became a well-known drug-kingpin in the late 1920s. By<br />

the 1930s, Antinori was one of the largest heroin traffickers in the country, with close ties to French-<br />

Corsican heroin traffickers and American Mafia bosses. Antinori established a drug pipeline from Marseille,<br />

France through Cuba into Tampa, Florida. Ignacio was a top narcotics supplier to the Kansas City crime family,<br />

as well as to St. Louis and Chicago. He would buy large quantities of narcotics from Cuban suppliers in Tampa<br />

and Havana, and then send them across the country with the help of his 2 sons, Paul and Joe.<br />

According to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the drugs were subsequently distributed in the Midwestern<br />

United States, primarily through St. Louis mobster Thomas Buffa and Kansas City mobsters Nicolo<br />

Impostato, James DeSimone and Joseph Deluca.<br />

During the late 1920s, a turf war began between Tampa-born southern mobster Charlie Wall and Antinori,<br />

who fought each other while Antinori became violent between factions of the Antinori Gang, which were the<br />

dissatified members of Chicago and St.Louis criminal outfits to whom Antinori was suppiying narcotics, and<br />

Wall's crew. Also jockeying with Santo Trafficante Sr. (who got his criminal start in the Antinori family) for<br />

control of the illegal numbers rackets in the Tampa area. The feud between Wall and Ignacio Antinori was<br />

disliked by the Commission because the narcotics trafficking done by Antinori was from France into Cuba and<br />

from there to Tampa, and hence the Commission thought this could attract federal attention.<br />

Eventually, law enforcement soon began to concentrate on Antinori's operations. In addition, mobsters such<br />

as Santo Trafficante Sr. soon set up rival smuggling rings. Antinori was eventually eclipsed by Trafficante, who<br />

held his own strong connections to Mangano crime family boss Vincent Mangano and Profaci crime<br />

family boss Joseph Profaci in New York.<br />

On October 23, 1940, Antinori was killed by a gunman while sipping coffee at the Palm Garden Inn in Tampa<br />

with a friend and a young female companion. The gunman was allegedly sent by one of Antinori's dissatisfied<br />

customers, the Chicago Outfit. Antinori had sent the Outfit a poor-quality shipment of narcotics. When the<br />

Outfit complained, Antinori refused a refund; at that point, the Outfit put a murder contract on Antinori.<br />

Someone within the organized crime ranks in Tampa suspected that Wall, who had survived a hit attempt on<br />

his life possibly made by the Kansas City outfit linked to Antinori earlier that spring, may have been linked to<br />

Antinori's murder.<br />

After Antinori's death, all of his rackets and most of his criminal holdings, which included the bolita rackets,<br />

were seized by Santo Trafficante, Sr., and he became the new boss of Antinori's crime family.<br />

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Underboss – Santo Trafficante Sr.:<br />

The first Italian gang in Tampa was the Antinori gang. During this time there was a small gang led by Santo<br />

Trafficante Sr. Trafficante had already set up the bolita games and thus was starting to gain power. Ignacio<br />

Antinori took notice of this and together with Trafficante formed a new organisation and started expanding<br />

the bolita games. Around 1930 a war had broken out between Tampa’s leading mobster Charlie Wall and<br />

Ignacio Antinori. The war ended with Antinori’s death and Santo Trafficante Sr. was left alone as the only<br />

influential person in Tampa, Florida.<br />

During his early life Trafficante set up the Tampa Cigar Factory. This, coupled with his bolita games increased<br />

his wealth to a great extent. He was being watched closely by the police so he made Salvatore Italiano the<br />

boss of the Trafficante family and fled to Cuba along with his sons. He always wanted to establish himself in<br />

Cuban Casinos and so he dispatched his son to Havana to operate a mob owned casino. Trafficante through<br />

this business made loads of money. By this time he was no more under the eye of the police and so he<br />

returned back to Tampa. After returning to Tampa he found that Italiano had fled away to Mexico and had<br />

made Jimmy Lumia the acting boss of the Trafficnte family. Lumia was increasing in power and was also<br />

mouthing off Trafficante while he was in Cuba. So Trafficante got Lumia killed and regained power, till his<br />

death in 1954.<br />

Santo Trafficante maintained good relations with many New York mob bosses. He maintained working ties<br />

with the Lucchese family and the Bonnano family. Tommy Lucchese had been a good friend of his and had also<br />

helped his son in his training.<br />

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The Philadelphia Crime Family:<br />

<strong>Boss</strong> – John Avena:<br />

Avena took over the Philadelphia Mafia Family in 1931 after founding <strong>Boss</strong> Salvatore Sabella stepped down at<br />

the conclusion of the Castellammarese War. The Philadelphia Mob had sided with the momentarily victorious<br />

Maranzano faction in the underworld conflict. Avena was an unusual choice as Mafia family <strong>Boss</strong> because he<br />

was born in the Messina region of Sicily, generally not associated with the Mafia tradition.<br />

During his reign as boss, the Sicilian Mafia in Philadelphia formed a partnership with local Jewish organized<br />

criminals from the "69th Street Mob", which was headed by mobster Harry “Nig” Rosen. This appears to have<br />

aided the Mafia in entering post-Prohibition gambling rackets. Avena had Sabella's full support as <strong>Boss</strong>, but a<br />

rebellious faction arose in the Philadelphia area, led by the Lanzetti brothers. A civil war erupted in the Family<br />

during the mid-1930s.<br />

The Lanzetti brothers are believed to have been responsible for the shooting death of 43-year-old Avena at<br />

the corner of Washington and Passyunk Avenues in the summer of 1936. A gunman firing from the rear<br />

window of a passing automobile shot to death both Avena and his lottery racket partner Martin Feldstein.<br />

Police noted that three other attempts had been made on Avena's life in the past 10 years. Joseph "Bruno"<br />

Dovi succeeded Avena as boss.<br />

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Underboss – Joe Dovi:<br />

Joseph Bruno (Giuseppe Dovi) was a key man in the Philadelphia organization of Salvatore Sabella. Sabella<br />

stepped down as <strong>Boss</strong> at the conclusion of the Castellammarese War in 1931 and gave way to Avena to<br />

become the new <strong>Boss</strong>. Bruno lived outside Philadelphia, first in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and later in New<br />

Brunswick, New Jersey. Bruno ruled the Philadelphia underworld for a decade until his death of natural<br />

causes.<br />

It is believed that he competed with John Avena for dominance in the regional Mafia. When Avena was killed<br />

in 1936, which was the result of a feud with the Lanzetti brothers that began during Salvatore Sabella's reign,<br />

Bruno became the undisputed authority in the Philly Mob.There is no family relationship between Joseph<br />

Bruno and later Philadelphia Mob boss Angelo Bruno.<br />

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